Jack Martin Blades (born April 24, 1954) is an American musician. He has worked in several bands:
Rubicon,
Night Ranger (as bassist and one of the lead vocalists), and
Damn Yankees (as one of the founding members). He also recorded with
Tommy Shaw under the name
Shaw/Blades, and has done work alongside
TMG, the
Tak Matsumoto Group. His most recent efforts include a second solo CD, and
Shaw/Blades is in the process of recording ‘’Influence II’’.
Jack has released two solo CD's and has written or co-written songs for
Aerosmith, Cher, Ozzy Osbourne, Alice Cooper, Roger Daltrey, and many more artists. Jack has also produced or co-produced CDs for
Night Ranger, Shaw/Blades and for several other artists including
Great White, Ted Nugent, and
Samantha 7, among others. Blades appears on
Mötley Crüe's Dr. Feelgood album, which was released in 1989. In the 1990s, Jack co-wrote four
Aerosmith songs with
Steven Tyler, Joe Perry, and
Tommy Shaw: "Shut Up and Dance" (1993), "Can't Stop Messin'" (1993), "Walk on Water" (1994), "What Kind of Love Are You On" (1998). In 1998 Jack was asked by
Ringo Starr to be play bass in
Ringo Starr VH1 Storytellers with
Joe Walsh and
Simon Kirke. In 2006 Jack played the role of an 80’s Sunset Strip club owner in the Las Vegas version of the Broadway musical show “Rock Of Ages.”
Former
Sly and the Family Stone saxophonist
Jerry Martini formed the funk band
Rubicon with Jack as bass player and fellow future
Night Ranger member
Brad Gillis on guitar.
Rubicon recorded two albums on 20th Century Fox Records – Rubicon, and American Dreams. They had one hit single titled “I’m Gonna Take Care of Everything.”
Rubicon played Cal Jam 2, held at the Ontario motor speedway in California before 250,000 people. Rubicon broke up in 1979 and Jack formed the short-lived club band Stereo with
Brad Gillis and drummer
Kelly Keagy, the latter of whom had joined as touring drummer for
Rubicon.
Jack’s roommate at the beginning of the 80s was
Alan “Fitz” Fitzgerald, bass player for Montrose and Gamma and keyboard player for
Sammy Hagar. He suggested they form a band. Fitz knew another guitar player in Sacramento (
Jeff Watson) and
Ranger was formed in 1980. The band recorded demos and played shows around the Bay area for two years. They were signed to Boardwalk Records and released their first album, ‘’Dawn Patrol’’ in 1982. Prior to the release it was discovered that there was a country band by the name of The Rangers. Jack had written the song “Night Ranger” for the album so the band changed their name to
Night Ranger to avoid any potential problems.
Night Ranger went on through the 80’s releasing albums which sold by the millions, as well as several hit singles. The band toured constantly both in the US and in Japan where they continue to be popular today. In 1989 Jack left
Night Ranger and formed the
Damn Yankees. Jack re-formed Night Ranger with the original members in 1996. They recorded three CDs – ‘’Neverland’’ in 1997, ‘’Seven’’ in 1998, and ‘’Hole In The Sun’’ in 2008.
Night Ranger continues to tour today.
Damn Yankees was formed by Jack at the start of the 1990s along with
Ted Nugent and
Styx guitarist
Tommy Shaw.
Damn Yankees had multi platinum success with two albums ‘’Damn Yankees’’, ‘’Don't Tread’’ and a gold selling single “High Enough.” Damn Yankees recorded and toured non-stop for four years. In 1994 the
Damn Yankees took a break – which they are still on today...
After the
Damn Yankees decided to take a break in 1994, Jack and Tommy decided to record together under the name
Shaw/Blades. They wrote and recorded the first
Shaw/Blades CD together – ‘’Hallucination’’ was released in 1995. In 2007 Shaw/Blades released ‘’Influence’’ (Vh1 Classic Records) which is a collection of cover songs that influenced Jack and Tommy. Shaw/Blades have toured acoustically across the US. They are currently recording ‘’Influence II’’ with an anticipated Spring 2010 release.
In 2004 Jack recorded a CD and toured Japan with
TMG (
Tak Matsumoto Group) formed by guitarist
Tak Matsumoto of the Japanese mega group
B'z.
TMG scored a #1 single (“Oh Japan, our time is now”) and a #1 CD (‘’TMG I’’) on Billboard Japan’s domestic chart. With
TMG, Jack performed "Never Good-bye" the ending credits theme for the 2004 film Ultraman (a.k.a. Ultraman: The Next). The song appears on the 2005 soundtrack album for the movie and on TMG I, the 2004 album by
Tak Matsumoto Group.
Jack released his first solo album in 2004 – Jack Blades. His second solo effort, Rock n' Roll Ride, followed early in 2012.
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